Olivier Giroud’s agent explains Chelsea exercised the option on his contract, but ‘with the promise he’d be released’ if an offer came along from a club abroad, for example Milan.
The announcement this afternoon was a genuine surprise, as Chelsea stated they had exercised their option to extend his contract to June 2022.
Giroud had been in advanced negotiations for a free transfer to Milan, so the note in their statement that the option had been exercised “back in April” raised a few eyebrows.
Calciomercato.com contacted the France international’s agents, who assured nothing has realistically changed.
“Chelsea exercised a unilateral option, but with the promise he’d be released if there was an offer from a foreign club.”
This was the statement from Michael Manuello, Luca Antonini and Ciro Morabito.
That means Milan could still take Giroud as a free agent, but Chelsea wanted to protect themselves from losing the striker to fellow Premier League club West Ham United.